Yes, Eckart Tolle, like a small percentage of people on this earth, is an enlightened being. That means he grasps the underlying madness of the ego mind and transcends it through his insights and awareness. He came to his understanding through many years of mental and emotional suffering and unhappiness.

He is generous to share his discoveries about why the world is in such a state of insanity. All the killings, the tortures, the child abuse, animal abuse, that fill the news and our history books. He points out that, as long as we allow ourselves to be driven by the automatic and repetitive fearful churning of our lesser minds, the world will always be in trouble.
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He is able to translate his vision in words that are easy to understand and accessible to all. Everyone needs relief from their anxious, restless minds. Eckart Tolle points to many different pathways. But his primary path is to be continually aware of and awake to the present moment. In this indestructible moment lies the core of peace, freedom, and creativity.

A zen person lives completely in this moment. Each action and thought takes place completely in the present. While he or she is doing any task, whether it is walking or washing hands, they are always right there. They are not thinking about what’s for dinner while they are washing their hands. They are not thinking about last night’s dinner either.

This takes great discipline. For the mind is unruly. It wants to charge ahead. It wallows in past mistakes and hurts. It can experience everything but the present moment. It oscillates between these two illusory states. For you cannot put your finger on the past and you cannot capture the future. They don’t really exist.
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The zen person knows, and experiences first hand, what it feels like to be in the deep peace of the Present. It cannot be described but you can feel who has attained this state. They do not drag anything into the present that is not essential. They take out the mental garbage and stay clean.

Inner peace is always in the background. This can be a problem because the mind is trained to focus on the foreground (what is “out there”). So we are constantly scanning the scene “out there” for danger, trouble, what is out of place, what could bring us pleasure. And how we can avoid pain. We are not trained to look within.

As long as we continually focus on what is “Out There,” we will never find or keep inner peace. But if we retreat into that silent space within, from that vantage point we can watch the passing parade. We can still be a part of it but we are primarily an observer.

This doesn’t mean we become zombies, with no feelings. We cannot opt for only the good feelings and not feel the bad ones. We will still feel sorrow, pain, and happiness. But we also realize how transitory all these emotions are. They depend on our moods, our thoughts at the time, how much sleep we got the night before, etc.
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Continuous inner peace is possible, as the Buddha pointed out in his Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. But we must be devoted to understanding how to achieve it. It doesn’t come on its own and it takes vigilance to maintain it.

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Our minds have a natural inclination to be fearful and negative. Dr. Rick Hanson calls it our “negativity bias.” We need to be aware of this first and then take steps to avoid it.

As we evolved over millions of years, eating and getting eaten, it was a lot more important for our survival to react and remember bad and painful experiences than it was for us to notice how beautiful life was. Noticing a gorgeous sunset was not as important as detecting the predator in the bush.

At the end of the day, people are hard wired to remember the one thing that didn’t go right and forget all the things that didn’t go wrong. He says that “The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences, but Teflon for positive ones.” This is because Nature is only concerned with passing on our genes. If we suffer in the process, it is beside the point to Her. As long as we survive long enough for this purpose.

But you can take control and actively soak in the good things that bring you happiness. This doesn’t mean you go around painting the world pink and tossing rose petals. It is an inner process of lifting your own energy by actively noticing and soaking in the good experiences, kind and compassionate people, cute baby animals, and gorgeous scenery.

When you concentrate on absorbing the good, it actually starts changing the structure of your brain. It will no longer immediately hurl itself towards the negative. As Hanson says, “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” The more you get your neurons firing about positive events and experiences, the more they’ll be wiring positive neural structures.
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So sit and watch something that you really love, listen to beautiful music, do something creative and really submerge yourself in it. Don’t just gloss over it and go on to the next experience. Let it sink in so you can make the changes. And that is how to avoid being negative, cynical, and jaded.

“. . .there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought. Thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. . . . All things that truly matter—beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace—arise from beyond the mind.”

I love this statement because, as civilized beings, we depend so much on our rational minds. At least we think they are rational, until we make mistakes, forget things, and look at the history of the human race and its sanctioned insanities.

Yes, the mind is a great tool and it comes up with all kinds of solutions to practical problems. But the mind offers no comfort during a sleepless night or when we are delving into past mistakes and future fears. Yet we think we are all this mind. That these non-stop thoughts are who we are and what we are. They take us on a white-water raft ride, through swirling whirlpools and craggy rocks over the precipice of a cascade, into our doom.

But if we access the intelligence beyond this maelstrom of churning thoughts, we finally find a connection to deep serenity and peace. The mind can carry on all it wants, we are watching its antics but not getting swept away by them. But first we must put this part of our minds into its place, through accessing the present moment. If we are constantly swirling around with past and future thoughts, that field of peace is blocked to us.
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One of Eckart Tolle’s missions is to show the clear path out of this thing that we think is us. He offers many practices to clear the way. And then, all that brings joy and happiness are there for us, just as they have always been.

Eckart Tolle is a spiritual teacher who is brilliant in interpreting and making accessible, many different philosophical systems to today’s seekers. He has a penetrating intelligence and a mystical understanding that explains what all of the great philosophers and thinkers have been teaching for thousands of years.

The question is, has he originated a completely new philosophical system as did Plato and Aristotle? Or has he brought his extensive knowledge of history and the wisdom literature to reframe what the great thinkers have been saying for centuries? I would say both. He is not an originator. He is a re-interpreter.

From his standpoint of enlightenment he can take any great system of thought and spirituality, such as Taoism, Stoicism, Buddhism, Sufism, and show us ways to see them in a new light.

When Plato originated his unified view of the world he constructed it from the time he spent with his teacher, Sophocles. And Aristotle, who was Plato’s student also used his great teacher to help him build a foundation for his musings on the nature of existence. Eckart Tolle is like both Plato and Aristotle, in that he builds on a foundation that has been paved by others.
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Eckart Tolle has brought fresh eyes to ancient wisdom. Because of his intense spiritual experiences and ability to communicate them, he is of tremendous benefit to those who are unsettled by the effects of the ego mind. He explains, in inspired language, the clear paths to inner peace and living in the present moment. And because he reveals so much of his personal struggle, unlike the ancients who so far removed from us, we can connect with him and grasp his teachings.

Let’s break it down into ordinary consciousness and Cosmic Consciousness.

Ordinary consciousness does not require time—rather, it is aware of time. Time begins when we awaken out of sleep and we are notice that it is passing. We have plans for the day, we have to eat, and we structure our lives around the different parts of the day. While we are asleep, we are unconscious and time does not exist for us at all.

Time for us, while we are conscious, is an endlessly passing, moving element of daily existence that also involves space. It takes X amount of time to get from point A to point B. While we are unconscious, either in a coma, or asleep, we are not concerned with how much time it will take to achieve our goals or to get anywhere. We don’t have knowledge of the passing seasons in our sleep.

Cosmic Consciousness, on the other hand, does not require any time at all to get “there.” Cosmic Consciousness accesses a state of awareness beyond time. It is a timeless state. Even the passing seasons and the course of the day are, within the Unity of it all, happening at once. Linear time is not relevant in this state.

You don’t have to struggle for years to attain Cosmic Consciousness and it is never a byproduct of how much time you put into it. Age, too, has nothing to do with it. Some people think they need to do a lot of penance, sit for hours in meditation, and go through lots of experiences before they can attain Cosmic Consciousness. None of this is necessary unless you get enjoyment out of it.

In Cosmic Consciousness time does not exist. It sees beyond change and fluctuations. It is an assimilation of the still, quiet Source of All Being. You see time as a human invention for the sake of communication and accomplishing tasks, an organizational tool. But it is not a reality in this state of awareness. This state does not come and go—it is eternal being.
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This type of consciousness is beyond the human mind, which is what conceives of time. A dog, for example, is not concerned about being late to a meeting or that it is getting older and doesn’t look as attractive anymore. Not one single creature in nature is aware of time, even if to the human eye they show wear and tear. Because of this, they are the ones that participate in Cosmic Consciousness most effortlessly.

What appears to be solid matter to us is, on the sub-atomic level, empty space populated by particles and waves. Add to our visual and sensory apparatuses, which differ per individual, and we get what we think is reality.

A cat or a bee sees the world entirely differently because of how the structures in their eyes interpret the dancing particles and waves. Therefore, they see things we can’t. Cats can see in the dark. Bees can detect ultraviolet light. Their world is not the world that humans perceive. Their reality is different. But if they disregard the laws of physics and crash into a tree, they will suffer the consequences.

For people too, if we do not see a tree and smash right into it, we will learn that “reality” exists outside what we perceived, until we perceive the pain of our injuries.

Our perceptions are also easily tricked by optical illusions, mirages, and sleight of hand. And our senses can be impaired or nonexistent. If a blind person does not see a tree does that mean the tree is not real? They will find out if they walk into it. Yet even this solid tree, at the atomic level is an energetic pattern of particles and waves, vibrating at the intensity that produces the effect of solid matter.
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Right now the earth is hurling through space at a dizzying rate, yet we perceive it to be standing still. It looks like the sun sinks in the west at the end of the day, when it is always in the same position while the earth is rotating. These are just a few examples of how our perceptions create our belief in a reality that is really not so.

Perception has to do with how we experience the outer world. Awareness has to do with how we experience our inner world.
We can perceive something “out there,” such as a rainbow that we experience through our senses. If we are color-blind, that rainbow looks different to us than if we see in full color. If we are tone-deaf a symphony may be just so much rhythmic noise. If we have a highly tuned sense of hearing, we can hear all the musical variations and be touched emotionally.

Perception and the physical senses are inter-related. It relies on such senses as sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

Awareness comes from inside and does not rely on the physical senses. A blind person may not see the rainbow but can be aware that a rainbow exists because people have told him or her about it. Or they can hear people exclaiming with wonder at the beauty of the rainbow and therefore they know that rainbows are perceived to be beautiful.

Awareness is in the background. Perception is in the foreground. And like perception, awareness varies according to the individual. Though it does not rely on the senses, some people have more finely-tuned awareness than others. They feel and recognize the being that does the perceiving. Helen Keller was a great example of this. She was blind and deaf but still was aware of the person or soul she was inside.
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There are degrees of awareness. Some people go through life like living zombies, on automatic pilot. Others are highly attuned to their inner and outer environment (regardless of the condition of their physical senses). But awareness does not depend on whether something exists out there or not. It is a mental and spiritual thing.

You are referring to two of the three types of samadhi, which is a term for the highest levels of consciousness. Eastern mystics have categorized these high levels of consciousness, which always involve direct apprehension of the Divine Source Energy of the Universe. They are:
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• Nirvikalpa samadhi
• Savilkalpa samadhi
• Sahaja samadhi

Nirvikalpa Samadhi
In nirvikalpa samadhi, you are the giant heart of the Universe. Even the Universe is tiny within the vastness of your being. It is a state of unlimited bliss and peaceful joy.

Nirvikalpa samadhi is considered to be the highest samadhi that most Spiritual Masters can attain. But it only lasts a few hours or days at most. Then it’s time to come back into the world of the physical. Often, we don’t want to come back into the world again. It is even said that if we stay there for 18–21 days, our soul may leave the body and cross over to the Other Side.

I have read of Spiritual Masters who have gone into Nirvikalpa samadhi and announced to their students, “Today is a good day to die.” They realized that they had attained their highest samadhi. Now it was not possible for them to keep carrying on in the physical plane.

This samadhi is not a survival state. It is a pervasive ecstasy. We really cannot carry on with material life in the world while in Nirvikalpa.
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Savikalpa Samadhi
In Savikalpa samadhi, which also only lasts for a period of time, we lose all consciousness of time and space. As there is no time, there is nothing to get done, there is nothing to do. It is already all done.

In this state of samadhi we see ourselves merely as an instrument to channel the purpose of the Divine. We do not need to do anything, it is already perfect and complete. There is nothing to accomplish, nothing to attain, nothing to do.

Unlike in Nirvikalpa samadhi where all thought has stopped, in Savikalpa samadhi thoughts arise, but they do not affect you. You just notice them without getting involved in them.

Sahaja Samadhi
Sahaja samadhi is the state of higher consciousness in which we are capable of working in the physical plane, while still maintaining Nirvikalpa samadhi. It’s simultaneously one foot in heaven and one foot on earth.

In Sahaja samadhi we do the daily tasks and chores. But each of these activities is infused with the bliss that only present moment awareness of the Divine can bring.

It is said that few Spiritual Masters have achieved Sahaja samadhi. It comes through grace. Grace is a deep spiritual topic of it own. It is a gift of insight from the divine and cannot be forced.